Chanel become first luxury fashion house to ban exotic skins

Chanel will fashion house will become the first luxury label to join the likes of Asos, Nike, H&M, and Puma, in banning the use of all exotic skins - as well as fur.

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Posted: 04 Dec 2018 18:15

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Chanel will no longer use exotic skins or real fur.

The fashion house will become the first luxury label to join the likes of Asos, Nike, H&M, and Puma, in banning the use of all exotic skins.

The brand has rarely used crocodile, lizard, snake, stingray, or fur but have still made the decision to ban all use of the animal products ahead of its pre-fall 2019 Metiers d'Art show in New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The ban was brought in as it was becoming increasingly difficult to ethically source skins that meet the house's quality standards - and Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel fashion, insisted that decision was made with no pressure from the public.

He said: "There is a problem of supply and that was not Chanel's business anyway, we did it because it's in the air, but it's not an air people imposed to us. It's a free choice.

"The future of high-end products will come from the know-how of what our atelier is able to do."

Despite not banning animal skins entirely, brands such as Burberry have made the leap to fur-free fashion after years of relying on rabbit, fox, mink and Asiatic racoon fur for its designs.

However, after years of being targeted by angry animal rights campaigners, the fashion house finally decided to follow the likes of its high-end competitors Versace and Gucci by eliminating animal flesh from its pieces.

Burberry said: "We already re-use, repair, donate or recycle unsaleable products and we will continue to expand these efforts. At Burberry, we are passionate about driving positive change."